Annual Peter Becker Community Flower Show blooms with circus theme

Peter Becker Community President and CEO Carol Berster, left, with Ruth Swingle, center, and Janice Barndt in the community room as preparations are made for the annual Flower Show. (The Reporter/ @GeoffPatton)

It may not be the traditional way of doing things, but the painting crew for one of the scenes in this year’s Peter Becker Community Flower Show sure got the job done.

In the middle of it all was Carol Berster, president and CEO of the retirement community in Harleysville, wearing a full paint suit as the residents were encouraged to make sure not all their paint went to setting the scene.

“Thank goodness for the suit,” Berster said.

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“I had blue paint across my head. I ruined my sneakers,” she said, “but it was fun.”

“Cirque du Bloom,” based on a three-ring circus, is the theme for this year’s flower show, running 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday and Friday, March 13 and 14 and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, March 15.

Along with the flowers, there are stuffed animals provided by the taxidermist son of a PBC resident; a chance to have your photo taken as a circus performer, including as a human cannon ball or acrobat; free seminars; crafts; antiques; quilt sale; bake sale; a Garden Train model train display; spring plant sales and art exhibits.

“This year, in particular, it’s family oriented,” said Ruth Swingle, president of the Peter Becker Auxiliary.

Saturday will be Family Day, Algeo said.

The pancake breakfast, which will be 8 to 10 a.m. Saturday, has become a Pancake Character Breakfast with Fuzzy the Clown.

That will be followed by a Fuzzy the Clown Magic Show 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. From 2 to 3 p.m. on Saturday afternoon, Laurie Smith Wood, director of education at Elmwood Park Zoo in Norristown, will lead a seminar on zoo animals with unusual adaptations.

“We had a couple kids in here yesterday, and they were just in awe,” of the taxidermy animals, Algeo said as several volunteers helped set up for the flower show.

“It’s neat,” Algeo said. “They get to see the animals in a non-threatening environment.”

To further allay any fears of the animals, and in keeping with the circus theme, bears in the show were outfitted with tutus, she said.

Although initially intended more for the children, adults also enjoy seeing the animals on display, she said.

This is the 31st year the flower show is being held, Barbara Keller, PBC’s director of marketing, said.

The auxiliary sponsors the flower show as a fundraiser — some of last year’s proceeds went to buying TVs for the health care center and this year’s is slated for a snow plow — Swingle said, but that’s not all the flower show is about.

“It’s also a very social activity,” Swingle said.

“It just brings all the people together,” she said. “We have a lot of fun is what we do.”

“It just has built such camaraderie between the residents and other members of the community. To me, that’s what it’s all about,” Berster said.

The flower show also gives visitors a chance to see Peter Becker Community and get a different view than what some people expect of the residents of a retirement community, she said.

“It shows they’re active, they’re engaged,” Keller said.

Most of the more than 100 volunteers who help with the flower show are Peter Becker residents, Algeo said. A group of eight or 10 Merck retirees also volunteers each year, she said.

“The pool of talent here is just enormous,” Algeo said.

The volunteers also take on jobs that are new to them, Berster said.

“They learn new skills they never knew they had,” she said.

“You do whatever comes your way that you’re able to do,” Stu Dockeray, volunteering for his third year, said.

This is Janice Barndt’s seventh year of volunteering for the flower show.

“I just found a need for organizing and cleanup, so I filled it,” Barndt said.

“This year I think will be especially interesting to the families with the circus theme,” she said, “and the animals.”

MacKenzie Dove, now a fifth-grader at Salford Hills Elementary School, who helped out last year with painting and other duties, made a papier-mâché sculpture of an elephant that will be on display at this year’s flower show, Algeo said. The sculpture is a visual demonstration accompanying a report Dove is doing for her school work, Algeo said.

“That’s a neat coordination for us,” Algeo said.

This year’s seminars are “Myths & Truths About Planning in the Second Half of Life — Four Things Everyone Should Know,” 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. Friday, March 14, and “Maximize Your Memory” at 2 to 3 p.m. the same day.

The PBC Chef Challenge, based on the Food Network’s “Iron Chef,” will be 2 to 3 p.m. Thursday, March 13.

In the contest, two teams of three will have 1.5 hours to prepare two plated courses using three possible secret ingredients.

Each team has one PBC resident and two Cura Hospitality cooks who work at PBC. This year’s resident contestants are 87-year-old Cora Williams and 90-year-old William Schwar. The cooks are Cassandra Mulligan, Karen Frankenfield, Sierra Powell and Luann Woosnam.